We were there for four days following the incident...and to say guides and climbers alike were tight lipped would be an understatement. I have gone over this scenario over and over and it all points to anchor failure IMHO. Sure glad that everyone is going to be ok. We climbed next to the site of the accident and that is a looooong way down.

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"Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you criticize them, you will be a mile away from them and you will have their shoes."

We were there for four days following the incident...and to say guides and climbers alike were tight lipped would be an understatement. I have gone over this scenario over and over and it all points to anchor failure IMHO. Sure glad that everyone is going to be ok. We climbed next to the site of the accident and that is a looooong way down.

we came across a guide and asked him about it.

me: you know anything about the accident at otter cliffs?

guide: no.

i think it should be like a m & m conference at a hospital: sort of a trial, not to place blame but to learn what happened and how to prevent it.

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DLottmann

We were there for four days following the incident...and to say guides and climbers alike were tight lipped would be an understatement. I have gone over this scenario over and over and it all points to anchor failure IMHO. Sure glad that everyone is going to be ok. We climbed next to the site of the accident and that is a looooong way down.

we came across a guide and asked him about it.

me: you know anything about the accident at otter cliffs?

guide: no.

i think it should be like a m & m conference at a hospital: sort of a trial, not to place blame but to learn what happened and how to prevent it.

Sure, if we didn't live in such a litigious society. It's a shame but a guide service being totally opened to what happened could be quite detrimental. I really dislike how ridiculous we (Americans) are when it comes to litigation. One if the biggest wastes of tax payer $.

I agree with D-Man. Too many lawyers and we're too litigious. I believe a main problem with health care costs is everybody is always ready to sue doctors, hospitals, etc as soon as something goes wrong - and there's always a lawyer knocking on the door. We need tort reform.

Ok - back to the thread - it's really is too bad that we can't find out more as I'm sure there's some good lessons to be learned.

We were there for four days following the incident...and to say guides and climbers alike were tight lipped would be an understatement. I have gone over this scenario over and over and it all points to anchor failure IMHO. Sure glad that everyone is going to be ok. We climbed next to the site of the accident and that is a looooong way down.

we came across a guide and asked him about it.

me: you know anything about the accident at otter cliffs?

guide: no.

i think it should be like a m & m conference at a hospital: sort of a trial, not to place blame but to learn what happened and how to prevent it.

Sure, if we didn't live in such a litigious society. It's a shame but a guide service being totally opened to what happened could be quite detrimental. I really dislike how ridiculous we (Americans) are when it comes to litigation. One if the biggest wastes of tax payer $.

Loser pays all legal fees: problem solved.

One of the good things about the 'Great Recession' (the '80 recession was actually much worse) is that there are a lot more unemployed lawyers.

I've also always been of the opinion that as a community we shun if not actually beat the snot out of anyone who would sue over a climbing accident. Shit happens.

It would certainly solve the "problem" for huge corporations, lol. I agree that lawyers are a problem, but who would ever sue Exon Mobil if they faced a 100 million dollar fee for their corporate legal team?

Back OT, if the problem is anchor failure I'm guessing it was unpadded slings over the edge. All the anchors there are bomber, with the exception of the gallery that always wigged me out TRing off a small tricam and friend on the sea stack, I always backed it up on the mainland but was never happy with it. Everything else there is anchors 101.

Eric has been up at Acadia all week. We will have to see/hear if he learnt more about this accident.

Ward - Steve Pinto had the TR anchors for The Gallery and the climbing totally wired BITD. The gear was a little funky but the result was bomber (three pieces I think). We would belay from the main land. Again, pretty funky but works good.

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"You have to decide to do a flag, where you can broke your vertebrae or a barn door depending of your pro" - the poster formerly known as Champ

DLottmann

Plenty of speculation, but all accounts indicate that the anchor did not fail. The rope that held the guide and the male client was severed. How this happened, I do not have a clear picture of, though I have a couple scenarios that could have occurred.

An assumption of mine, is the guide may have been counter balancing off the male client when rappelling to assist. If the rope was cut above him, but below the anchor, and the male client was leaning back on the opposite end, this could have caused both to fall as the cut rope ran through the master point. This is pure speculation, and only based off what has been reported in the papers.

Perhaps we will find out more when any possible statute of limitations runs out or those involved are out of harms way from litigation.

Eric has been up at Acadia all week. We will have to see/hear if he learnt more about this accident.

Ward - Steve Pinto had the TR anchors for The Gallery and the climbing totally wired BITD. The gear was a little funky but the result was bomber (three pieces I think). We would belay from the main land. Again, pretty funky but works good.

Nothing new really. An official statement will be made when all the investigations are done (months?)